Sail Away
by smaragdbird
Summary: sets after X2 John looks back on his past with Bobby Slash


Sail away 

Once upon a time we had a lot to fight for  
We had a dream, we had a plan  
Sparks in the air, we spread a lot of envy  
Didn't have to care once upon a time 

John had seen the signs before Rogue had even arrived: Bobby spent less and less time with him. He hid their relationship. No more kisses in lonely hallways, no more sex in deserted classrooms. First John had been hurt, more hurt than he wanted to admit to himself. Soon they fought on a daily basis: over homework, John's untidiness, Bobby's nightly ice cream tours. Everything was good enough for a fight which always ended the same way: Bobby retreated to the bathroom with a last hurt glance a John and John kicked something before storming out of the room to burn something. In the evening they didn't speak about it, but just pretended everything was fine between them until the next day. And the next fight.

Remember when I swore  
My love is never ending  
And you and I will never die  
Remember when I swore  
We had it all  
We had it all 

But that didn't mean they still hadn't their good times. In fact just before Rogue arrived they spent their summer vacation at a beach in a bay so secluded that they didn't meet another person there in the whole seven and a half weeks they were there.

Bobby had had an argument with his family because of his decision not to come back home this summer but in the end they had given up. Armed with a tent, two sleeping bags, nearly enough money to survive those two months (Bobby supplied it) and enough lube and condoms for a year (John's backpack) they hiked to the bay. 10 kilometres from the next road and 30 from the next settlement somewhere at the coast of New

Hampshire.

For two months it was just they. For John those two months were the closest to a paradise he'd ever experienced.

I'll sail away, it's time to leave  
Rainy days, are yours to keep  
Fade away, the night is calling my name  
You will stay, I'll sail away 

'Hey.' Bobby wrapped his arms around John from behind, who played with the remnants of the campfire they had set up.

'Hey.' John answered and turned his head slightly so he could kiss Bobby shortly, then he returned his attention to the fire.

'You know what, Bobby?' john said without taking his eyes off the flames: 'You could encase us in ice. Then we would never die and this could last forever.'

Behind him Bobby laughed. John could feel the vibration of Bobby's chest on his back.

'Your subtle way of saying that you love me, Johnny?'

'Of course I love you.' John said simply. A few moments passed until Bobby replied:

'I love you, too John.' And held him tighter. And John had the sickening feeling that after this summer, Bobby wouldn't say it to him again.

Once upon a time we used to burn candles  
We had a place to call a home  
The dream that we lived  
Was better than divine  
Every day was like a gift  
Once upon a life 

'You're a god among insects. Don't let he tell you any different.' Magneto hold out his lighter but between his words he held out the whole world. A world where he could use his power and not suppress it. A world without Bobby, a constant reminder of better times. Not that John wanted Bobby back. No, this chapter of his live was over but different from former times John hadn't run after the closing of this chapter. Simply because the life at the mansion, even with all its rules and regulations, was rather comfortable. But now John was offered an escape route that was perfect.

He looked at Magneto and he knew that the other man knew what he'd decided.

Remember when you swore  
Your love is never ending  
And you and I would never die  
Remember when you swore  
We had it all  
We'd never fall 

'I'm sick of this kid's stuff.' John said and grabbed a jacket. Time to go.

'They told us to stay here.' Rogue said. John gave her a brief, uncaring look before he focused on Bobby. It wasn't Rogue's fault. He didn't blame her for stealing Bobby from him or something like that because by the time she had arrived there had been nothing worthy enough left she could have stolen. John even felt some kind of sympathy towards her. She was just a lost little girl, in love with someone who didn't really notice her devotion for him, so she 'd turned to every source of affection she could find. And Bobby was perfect for tat role because John doubted that Bobby was capable of feeling with every fibre of his being. No, Bobby was too cold to know what passion really meant.

'You're always doing what you're told?'

When he left the helicopter he wished Rogue that Wolverine would notice her before she would break on Bobby's heart of ice. He wished nothing for Bobby because a heart of ice was punishment enough for a lifetime.

Sail away, it's time to leave  
Rainy days are yours to keep  
Fade away, the twilight is calling my name  
You will stay, I'll sail away 

When the pain and the shrieking in his head brought him down to his knees John thought: 'Fuck, I don't want to die.' And then: 'I'm glad I'm alone.' He hated showing weakness in front of others. And he hated the thought that he would die here, in snow and ice. That should have been Bobby's death not his. He was Pyro after all. He should go down in flames. But life wasn't predictable and death even less, was it?

The pain was crunching, maiming, cutting through his brain, as if Siryn would scream just ten times stronger.

And then it stopped.

The pain vanished as if it never existed. John got to his feet and began to walk into the direction of the base. He would find Magneto and show him his worth.

He was a god, wasn't he?'

No reason to lie  
No need to pretend  
I'm grateful to die  
To live once again  
I'm fearless to fly  
And reach for the end  
And reach for the end  
ohhohhhohhhohhh... 

Years and years later John would sometimes think back to Bobby and especially to the summer at the beach. He would remember how they first met, their first kiss, their first time. He would also remember the way they fell apart, how he left and the day he took his stuff from the mansion with Bobby hovering over his side, trying to talk it out of him, to persuade him into staying. John would think back on Alcatraz and Bobby as his enemy, for the first but not the last time.

Somehow, he mused, they had always been destined to be enemies, they had just postponed it because fate hadn't calculated that people who are supposed to hate sometimes fall in love with each other instead.

Sail away  
Sail away, it's time to leave  
Rainy days are yours to keep  
Fade away, the night is calling my name  
You will stay, I'll sail away  
Sail away  
The night is calling my name  
Sail away


End file.
